-- Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum rapped the Bloomberg administration
yesterday for dragging its heels in releasing a plan to teach English to
immigrant students.

Joined by a group of advocates in front of the city Department of Education's
Tweed headquarters, Gotbaum complained that Bloomberg andSchools Chancellor Joel
Klein broke a promise to unveil the plan 80 days ago.

There are 145,000 students identified as "English Language Learners," enrolled
mostly in bilingual education or English as a Second Language courses.